The Principal, Muharram Education Centre in Ikoyi Prison, Mr Ibikunle Idris, has said that not less than 75 inmates will participate in the November/December 2017 West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations.
Idris declared this on Tuesday in Lagos while having a chat with journalists.
He said that the number of inmates expected to sit for the examination this year was higher than the 64 candidates who wrote the examination in 2016.
He also noted that 45 inmates would sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination this year, as against 34 who applied last year.
He expressed satisfaction that the prison reforms was yielding results as several inmates were now indicating interest in education.
Idris said that the authority of the prison was making efforts to ensure that the inmates get qualitative education.
“The inmates are showing more interest in these examinations because the enrolment figure keeps increasing by the day.
“Our statistics show that 64 inmates registered and sat for the 2016 Nov/Dec WASSCE. “Last year also, we presented 34 inmates for the UTME.
“Some of them, who did well in the UTME, are now among the 18 students currently undertaking various programmes in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in the facility,’’ Idris told newsmen.
The principal expressed confidence that inmates, who registered for various external examinations this year, would perform better because of the support of the prison authority.
“We have put many things in place to support the educational needs of the inmates. “We are more prepared this year than previous years.
“Recently, we took delivery of books from our national headquarters to aid the educational needs of the inmates,’’ the principal said.
Idris listed the textbooks to include Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Physics and others.
“The textbooks in these core subjects will assist our candidates to prepare well for the examinations.
“More volunteer teachers have also shown interest in preparing the inmates ahead of the examinations. “Even some prison staff, who are graduates, are also assisting in coaching the candidates,’’ he said.
Idris said that several inmates were eager to attend conventional universities on their release from incarceration, especially those with short term sentence and whose ages range between 18 and 24 years.
The principal said that those inmates with longer jail terms and who scored good grades in their UTME were taking advantage of the NOUN facility.
He pleaded with the Federal Government to provide the centre with new computers to replace obsolete ones.
He also appealed to WAEC to facilitate the release of withheld results of some of the inmates who participated in the Nov. /Dec. 2016 examination.
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